Capital & Risk
A man who has grown pine for thirty years can walk a stand and tell you what it is worth. Put a term sheet, an insurance binder or a Form T in front of him and he is on somebody else's ground. This section is the vocabulary: who lends against timber and how they read a tract, what the federal programmes actually do, what a policy covers, and how timber income is taxed.
Read them in order and you have the whole picture, from the loan on the land to the tax treatment of the sale. Read one and you have what you needed today.
Lending
Timber is collateral that grows, burns, and can only be sold to a mill inside haul distance. That is why a timberland loan is underwritten differently from a loan on a row-crop farm, and why the appraisal reads differently too.
Rates
A loan rate is two things added together: a published benchmark the lender does not control, and a spread he decides. Knowing which benchmark prices your loan explains why a quote moves between the appraisal and the closing - and knowing where the spread comes from is the only part of the number you can argue about.
Institutions
A cooperative lending network older than most of the banks it competes with, owned by its own borrowers, funded in the bond market rather than by deposits, and regulated by a federal agency most landowners have never heard of.
Government
Four federal doors open onto a family tract, and they are behind three different agencies with three different application processes. Knowing which agency owns which programme saves a wasted trip to the county office.
Risk
A standing timber policy is a narrow, specialist product covering named perils on a growing asset. Most Southern timber is uninsured, and the reasons for that are economic rather than careless.
Risk
Four policies carry a logging contractor, and the fourth one - workers' compensation - is usually the largest single line item in the business after fuel and payroll. Here is what each one does and why the price is what it is.
Tax
Timber has its own corner of the Internal Revenue Code, and the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong on one sale can exceed a year of management costs. This page explains the vocabulary so you can have a better conversation with a CPA - it is not that conversation.
Investment
Most of the industrial timberland in the South changed hands twice in a generation - from the paper companies to institutional owners. Understanding how those owners value a tract explains a lot about who is bidding against you.
Markets
Sawmills, paper mills and homebuilders spend real money insulating themselves from price swings, and almost none of the tools they use are sized for a family tract. This page explains each one anyway - because the one that is yours, deferred harvesting, is the strongest of them, and because the rest explain why the mill's offer moves the way it does.
The named institutions, federal programmes and references cited across these pages, grouped by who they are for. A body that serves more than one audience appears in more than one group. Every card links to the page where that body publishes its current terms — which is where every figure lives, and why none appears here.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Makes direct loans and guarantees loans made by commercial lenders, for buying farm and forest land, refinancing, and financing the operating side of an agricultural business. Direct loans are underwritten and serviced by the agency's own farm loan officers; guaranteed loans are made by a bank or a Farm Credit association with the agency standing behind part of the balance.
Who it is for
Agricultural producers who meet the agency's published eligibility tests, including a credit history test and, for direct loans, a test that the applicant cannot obtain sufficient credit elsewhere on reasonable terms. Eligibility, loan limits and terms are published by the agency and change; read them at the source.
Also checked against fsa.usda.gov.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Pays a landowner an annual rental payment under a multi-year contract to take environmentally sensitive cropland out of production and establish a cover that protects soil and water. Several of its practices establish trees, which is how a former row-crop field in the Black Belt becomes a pine stand. It also shares the cost of establishing the approved cover.
Who it is for
Owners and operators of eligible land who meet the cropping-history and land-eligibility rules the agency publishes for the signup in question. Signups are periodic and the practices offered differ between the general signup, the continuous signup and CREP.
Also checked against farmers.gov.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Shares the cost of carrying out emergency measures to restore non-industrial private forest land damaged by a natural disaster. It is the program a landowner looks at after a tornado, a hurricane, an ice storm or a wildfire has flattened a stand and the site has to be cleaned up and put back into trees.
Who it is for
Owners of non-industrial private forest land who have suffered qualifying natural-disaster damage, where the agency has authorised the program for the county. Sign-up periods are announced county by county after a disaster.
Also checked against fsa.usda.gov.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Provides technical help and financial assistance to plan and install conservation practices on working agricultural and non-industrial private forest land. On timberland the practices a landowner most often meets are forest stand improvement, prescribed burning, firebreaks, tree and shrub establishment, and access-road and stream-crossing work. Assistance is delivered through a contract for named practices, not as a general grant.
Who it is for
Agricultural producers and owners of non-industrial private forest land who control the acreage, meet the agency's eligibility requirements and have (or agree to develop) the conservation or forest management plan the practice requires.
Also checked against nrcs.usda.gov.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Supports landowners who are already managing to a conservation standard and want to go further, under a multi-year contract covering the whole operation rather than a single practice. Where EQIP pays to install a practice, CSP is built around maintaining and improving conservation performance across the acreage.
Who it is for
Producers and non-industrial private forest landowners with effective control of the land who meet the agency's stewardship threshold requirements at enrolment.
Also checked against nrcs.usda.gov.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Restores and protects forest ecosystems to recover threatened and endangered species, improve biodiversity and store carbon, through easements and restoration agreements on private forest land. In the South it is most often seen on longleaf and bottomland hardwood restoration.
Who it is for
Private forest landowners whose land can deliver the habitat and restoration outcomes the program targets, on the enrolment options the agency publishes.
Also checked against nrcs.usda.gov.
USDA Forest Service, delivered through state forestry agencies
Provides assistance to owners of private forest land so they can actively manage it, keep it productive, and increase its economic benefit while conserving the resource. Its working product is a written Forest Stewardship Plan for the tract. The Forest Service reports more than 25 million acres managed under such plans.
Who it is for
Owners of private forest land. The program is delivered by state forestry agency field staff and cooperating consulting foresters; the Forest Service publishes contacts for the state coordinator and program manager.
A nationwide network of borrower-owned lending institutions, regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Lends to agriculture and rural America through cooperative associations owned by their own borrowers. It takes no deposits; it raises money by selling debt securities in the national capital markets and lends the proceeds. Timberland purchase and refinance, land improvement, and the operating and equipment needs of a farm or forestry business are core business for its associations.
Who it is for
Set by the Farm Credit Act of 1971 as amended and the Farm Credit Administration's regulations, which define the classes of borrowers a System institution may serve. Each association applies those rules in its own chartered territory; ask the association whose territory your county falls in.
Independent agency of the United States government
Regulates and examines the institutions of the Farm Credit System and Farmer Mac. Its stated mission is to ensure that those institutions are safe, sound and dependable sources of credit and related services for all creditworthy and eligible persons in agriculture and rural America. It was created by a 1933 executive order and derives its present authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.
Who it is for
Not a lender. A landowner deals with FCA only indirectly: it is the agency that charters, regulates and examines the association he borrows from, and it publishes the regulations that define who a System institution may lend to.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes agricultural real estate, land, operating and equipment loans in its chartered Alabama territory, and distributes patronage to its member-borrowers as a cooperative. Timberland is ordinary collateral for it in a way it is not for every commercial bank.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Territory, products and current terms are published by the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes land, agricultural real estate, operating and equipment loans across its chartered multi-state territory in the mid-South, including counties in Alabama. Like every Farm Credit association it is owned by its borrowers rather than by outside shareholders.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Confirm the territory for your county with the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes farm, timberland and rural property loans in its chartered Southeastern territory, with the same cooperative structure and patronage model as the other associations.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Confirm the territory for your county with the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress, regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Runs a secondary market for agricultural and rural mortgage credit: it buys and guarantees loans originated by banks, Farm Credit associations and other lenders, which lets those lenders write long-term fixed-rate paper on land they would otherwise have to keep on their own books.
Who it is for
A borrower never applies to Farmer Mac. He applies to a lender that sells into the Farmer Mac programme; the eligibility rules bite on the loan and the collateral, not on a direct application.
Also checked against fca.gov.
USDA Risk Management Agency
Administers and reinsures the federal crop insurance programme, which is delivered by private companies and agents. What is insurable is set crop by crop and county by county in the agency's actuarial documents. A landowner asking whether a federal policy exists for what he grows should read that list rather than assume; standing forest timber is generally handled in the private market instead.
Who it is for
Producers of an insurable crop in a county where the agency has published actuarial documents for it, buying through a licensed crop insurance agent.
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS form used to report information on timber accounts when a sale or deemed sale under Internal Revenue Code sections 631(a), 631(b), or another exchange has occurred during the tax year. It is where the timber account, the basis and the depletion taken are laid out.
Who it is for
Taxpayers with timber accounts and a reportable timber transaction. Whether you must file it, and how, is a question for a CPA and for the form's own instructions.
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS's own plain-language guide to how federal tax law applies to farming, including the treatment of timber income, basis and depletion. It is revised each year, which is exactly why the numbers belong there and not on a page like this one.
Who it is for
Published for anyone; it is a guide, not a ruling on your facts.
Also checked against irs.gov.
Internal Revenue Service
Sets out what the IRS treats as a casualty loss, how the deductible amount is measured, and the special rules that apply in a federally declared disaster area. After a fire or a storm takes a stand, this is the framework the deduction is argued inside.
Who it is for
Taxpayers with a qualifying loss. The rules differ sharply between property held for personal use and property held in a business or for investment.
National Timber Tax Website
A standing reference on federal income tax as it applies to timber: basis and depletion accounts, sale treatment, reforestation costs, casualty and involuntary conversion, and worked examples. It is the reference most consulting foresters and timber CPAs point a landowner at first.
Who it is for
Public reference. Not a substitute for a CPA who works timber accounts.
USDA Forest Service
The Forest Service's own tax and estate-planning resource for private forest owners, sitting alongside the Forest Stewardship Program. It is a federal starting point for the questions a landowner has before he pays for professional advice.
Who it is for
Public reference for private forest owners.
National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF)
Measures the performance of timberland properties held in a fiduciary environment by NCREIF's contributing members, reported quarterly and broken into an income component and an appreciation component. It is a benchmark for institutional portfolios, not a price a landowner can sell into, and its appreciation component rests on appraisals rather than on transactions.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Data contribution is a matter for NCREIF members; the published index is what an outside reader sees.
Also checked against ncreif.org.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
The independent federal agency that regulates the United States derivatives markets, including the futures and options contracts the forest products trade hedges with. It registers intermediaries, oversees the exchanges and clearing houses, brings enforcement actions, and publishes plain-language customer advisories on the risks of trading and on commodity fraud.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Its customer education and its registration data are public, and its advisories are the first stop before opening any derivatives account.
Also checked against cftc.gov.
National Futures Association
A free public database of every firm and individual registered with the CFTC through the National Futures Association: registration status, membership, and any regulatory or disciplinary action on record. It is how anyone considering a futures account checks that the firm on the other end of the telephone is who it says it is.
Who it is for
Public search, no account needed. Checking a firm here before sending money is the single cheapest piece of diligence in this whole subject.
Also checked against nfa.futures.org.
Center for Forest Business, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
The regional price reporting service for stumpage and delivered wood across the United States South, compiled from reported transactions and published on a quarterly cycle by region and product class. It is the reference most Southern long-term supply formulas and many appraisal reports point at when they say the price will be set by the index.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication. The reported values are the product being sold and are not reproduced here; subscribers, consulting foresters and appraisers are the usual route to them.
Also checked against warnell.uga.edu.
Fastmarkets
Publishes the price assessments and indices the wood products and pulp trades settle against: Random Lengths for North American lumber and panels, and the FOEX PIX indices for market pulp. Over-the-counter swaps and many long-term fibre supply contracts are written to settle against one of these published series rather than against a fixed price.
Who it is for
Commercial subscription products. The assessed values are proprietary and are named but never reproduced on this site; a contract that settles against one of them is only as good as the reader's access to it.
Also checked against fastmarkets.com.
Hardwood Market Report
The long-standing weekly price reporting service for North American hardwood lumber, by species, grade and region. It is the reference the hardwood trade quotes where the softwood lumber indices say nothing useful, which covers most of the hardwood belt including north Alabama.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication; its reported values are proprietary and are not reproduced here.
Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, on behalf of the Farm Credit System banks
Issues the consolidated debt securities that fund the whole Farm Credit System and publishes the terms they are sold at, across maturities running from very short to very long. That published cost of wholesale money is the reference a Farm Credit association's own loan pricing is built on, which is why a System lender can hold a long fixed rate on land paper that a deposit-funded bank often will not.
Who it is for
Not a programme and not a lender. It is the System's funding arm and its disclosure publisher; a borrower deals with a local association, not with this body. Current issuance terms are published on its site.
Also checked against fca.gov.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The benchmark administrator publishes SOFR every business morning for the prior business day, derived from actual overnight Treasury repurchase transactions. It is the successor benchmark to US dollar LIBOR, and it is what most new floating-rate commercial paper - equipment finance, mill capital, harvest operating lines - is written against, either as the overnight rate or as a forward-looking term rate built on it.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The rate and its full publication history are free to read at the source; a borrower encounters it as the first half of the quote on a floating-rate note.
Also checked against newyorkfed.org.
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Publishes the daily par yield curve, from which the constant maturity yields at each standard term - two, three, five, seven, ten, twenty and thirty years - are read. The five-year and ten-year points are the ordinary reference for fixed-rate land loans, long-term timber tract mortgages and mill capital, because a lender matching a long loan wants a benchmark of matching length.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The full curve is published free every business day; anyone quoting you a fixed land rate is reading from it, and you can read the same page he is.
Also checked against home.treasury.gov.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Board's standing release of selected interest rates, published each business day and summarised weekly. It restates the constant maturity Treasury yields alongside the federal funds rate, commercial paper and bank prime loan rate, which makes it the single page to read when you want the benchmark behind a land loan and the benchmark behind an operating line side by side.
Who it is for
Not a programme. A free statistical release; every series on it carries the Board's own note on how it is constructed.
Also checked against federalreserve.gov.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Publishes the agency's own program interest rates for its direct loan products - farm ownership, operating, down payment, joint financing and emergency - which are set administratively rather than quoted by a loan officer, and are reset on a published schedule rather than moving day to day. The rate that applies to a given loan is the one in effect under the agency's own rules for that loan; the page at the source is where the current figures live.
Who it is for
The rates apply to applicants who qualify for the underlying FSA direct loan programme. Eligibility, terms and the current rates are all published by the agency and change.
Also checked against fsa.usda.gov.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Surveys agricultural banks each quarter on what they are actually charging for farm real estate loans, machinery and equipment paper and operating credit, and publishes the results alongside loan demand, repayment rates and collateral requirements. It is the closest thing to a public record of the all-in rate rural banks charge, as opposed to the benchmark underneath it.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Published free by the reserve bank; the survey covers its own district and the Databook aggregates national reporting.
Also checked against kansascityfed.org.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
A quarterly newsletter and banker survey covering farmland values and agricultural credit conditions in its district, including the average rates district banks report on real estate, operating and machinery loans and their read on credit availability. Read beside the Kansas City survey it shows how differently credit conditions can sit from one part of the country to another.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Published free by the reserve bank; the survey covers its own district rather than the South.
Also checked against chicagofed.org.
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
Publishes working analysis of agricultural credit and land markets from university economists, including how farm loan rates have moved against Treasury yields over long periods and how credit conditions have behaved through past rate cycles. Useful for the shape of a cycle rather than for today's quote.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Free to read; it is university extension analysis, not a lender, a rate publisher or a source of advice on a particular loan.
Also checked against ace.illinois.edu.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Makes direct loans and guarantees loans made by commercial lenders, for buying farm and forest land, refinancing, and financing the operating side of an agricultural business. Direct loans are underwritten and serviced by the agency's own farm loan officers; guaranteed loans are made by a bank or a Farm Credit association with the agency standing behind part of the balance.
Who it is for
Agricultural producers who meet the agency's published eligibility tests, including a credit history test and, for direct loans, a test that the applicant cannot obtain sufficient credit elsewhere on reasonable terms. Eligibility, loan limits and terms are published by the agency and change; read them at the source.
Also checked against fsa.usda.gov.
A nationwide network of borrower-owned lending institutions, regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Lends to agriculture and rural America through cooperative associations owned by their own borrowers. It takes no deposits; it raises money by selling debt securities in the national capital markets and lends the proceeds. Timberland purchase and refinance, land improvement, and the operating and equipment needs of a farm or forestry business are core business for its associations.
Who it is for
Set by the Farm Credit Act of 1971 as amended and the Farm Credit Administration's regulations, which define the classes of borrowers a System institution may serve. Each association applies those rules in its own chartered territory; ask the association whose territory your county falls in.
Independent agency of the United States government
Regulates and examines the institutions of the Farm Credit System and Farmer Mac. Its stated mission is to ensure that those institutions are safe, sound and dependable sources of credit and related services for all creditworthy and eligible persons in agriculture and rural America. It was created by a 1933 executive order and derives its present authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.
Who it is for
Not a lender. A landowner deals with FCA only indirectly: it is the agency that charters, regulates and examines the association he borrows from, and it publishes the regulations that define who a System institution may lend to.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes agricultural real estate, land, operating and equipment loans in its chartered Alabama territory, and distributes patronage to its member-borrowers as a cooperative. Timberland is ordinary collateral for it in a way it is not for every commercial bank.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Territory, products and current terms are published by the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes land, agricultural real estate, operating and equipment loans across its chartered multi-state territory in the mid-South, including counties in Alabama. Like every Farm Credit association it is owned by its borrowers rather than by outside shareholders.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Confirm the territory for your county with the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
A borrower-owned association of the Farm Credit System
Makes farm, timberland and rural property loans in its chartered Southeastern territory, with the same cooperative structure and patronage model as the other associations.
Who it is for
Borrowers within its chartered territory who meet Farm Credit eligibility and the association's own credit standards. Confirm the territory for your county with the association.
Also checked against fca.gov.
U.S. Small Business Administration
Guarantees loans made by participating lenders to small businesses, for working capital, equipment, and in some cases real estate. For a logging contractor it is a route to term debt on the business rather than on the timber: the crew, the trucks, the shop.
Who it is for
Small businesses meeting SBA's size standards and programme requirements, applying through a participating lender rather than to the agency directly. Eligibility rules, size standards and fees are published by SBA.
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Sets the federal safety requirements for logging operations - work practices, personal protective equipment, machine requirements and training. It is not insurance, but it is upstream of it: the loss record a workers' compensation rate is built from is made in the woods, and citations and injuries are what an underwriter reads.
Who it is for
Applies to employers engaged in logging operations under OSHA jurisdiction. Some states run their own OSHA-approved plans.
State workers' compensation agencies; overview published by the U.S. Department of Labor
Requires most employers to carry insurance that pays medical costs and wage replacement for employees injured on the job, in exchange for the employee giving up the right to sue the employer over the injury. Who must carry it, how many employees trigger the requirement, and how disputes are handled are all state law, and they differ across a state line.
Who it is for
Employers as defined by the law of the state where the work is performed. A logging contractor working across a state line is dealing with more than one system.
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS's own plain-language guide to how federal tax law applies to farming, including the treatment of timber income, basis and depletion. It is revised each year, which is exactly why the numbers belong there and not on a page like this one.
Who it is for
Published for anyone; it is a guide, not a ruling on your facts.
Also checked against irs.gov.
Internal Revenue Service
Sets out what the IRS treats as a casualty loss, how the deductible amount is measured, and the special rules that apply in a federally declared disaster area. After a fire or a storm takes a stand, this is the framework the deduction is argued inside.
Who it is for
Taxpayers with a qualifying loss. The rules differ sharply between property held for personal use and property held in a business or for investment.
National Timber Tax Website
A standing reference on federal income tax as it applies to timber: basis and depletion accounts, sale treatment, reforestation costs, casualty and involuntary conversion, and worked examples. It is the reference most consulting foresters and timber CPAs point a landowner at first.
Who it is for
Public reference. Not a substitute for a CPA who works timber accounts.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
The independent federal agency that regulates the United States derivatives markets, including the futures and options contracts the forest products trade hedges with. It registers intermediaries, oversees the exchanges and clearing houses, brings enforcement actions, and publishes plain-language customer advisories on the risks of trading and on commodity fraud.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Its customer education and its registration data are public, and its advisories are the first stop before opening any derivatives account.
Also checked against cftc.gov.
National Futures Association
A free public database of every firm and individual registered with the CFTC through the National Futures Association: registration status, membership, and any regulatory or disciplinary action on record. It is how anyone considering a futures account checks that the firm on the other end of the telephone is who it says it is.
Who it is for
Public search, no account needed. Checking a firm here before sending money is the single cheapest piece of diligence in this whole subject.
Also checked against nfa.futures.org.
Center for Forest Business, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
The regional price reporting service for stumpage and delivered wood across the United States South, compiled from reported transactions and published on a quarterly cycle by region and product class. It is the reference most Southern long-term supply formulas and many appraisal reports point at when they say the price will be set by the index.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication. The reported values are the product being sold and are not reproduced here; subscribers, consulting foresters and appraisers are the usual route to them.
Also checked against warnell.uga.edu.
Hardwood Market Report
The long-standing weekly price reporting service for North American hardwood lumber, by species, grade and region. It is the reference the hardwood trade quotes where the softwood lumber indices say nothing useful, which covers most of the hardwood belt including north Alabama.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication; its reported values are proprietary and are not reproduced here.
Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, on behalf of the Farm Credit System banks
Issues the consolidated debt securities that fund the whole Farm Credit System and publishes the terms they are sold at, across maturities running from very short to very long. That published cost of wholesale money is the reference a Farm Credit association's own loan pricing is built on, which is why a System lender can hold a long fixed rate on land paper that a deposit-funded bank often will not.
Who it is for
Not a programme and not a lender. It is the System's funding arm and its disclosure publisher; a borrower deals with a local association, not with this body. Current issuance terms are published on its site.
Also checked against fca.gov.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The benchmark administrator publishes SOFR every business morning for the prior business day, derived from actual overnight Treasury repurchase transactions. It is the successor benchmark to US dollar LIBOR, and it is what most new floating-rate commercial paper - equipment finance, mill capital, harvest operating lines - is written against, either as the overnight rate or as a forward-looking term rate built on it.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The rate and its full publication history are free to read at the source; a borrower encounters it as the first half of the quote on a floating-rate note.
Also checked against newyorkfed.org.
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Publishes the daily par yield curve, from which the constant maturity yields at each standard term - two, three, five, seven, ten, twenty and thirty years - are read. The five-year and ten-year points are the ordinary reference for fixed-rate land loans, long-term timber tract mortgages and mill capital, because a lender matching a long loan wants a benchmark of matching length.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The full curve is published free every business day; anyone quoting you a fixed land rate is reading from it, and you can read the same page he is.
Also checked against home.treasury.gov.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Board's standing release of selected interest rates, published each business day and summarised weekly. It restates the constant maturity Treasury yields alongside the federal funds rate, commercial paper and bank prime loan rate, which makes it the single page to read when you want the benchmark behind a land loan and the benchmark behind an operating line side by side.
Who it is for
Not a programme. A free statistical release; every series on it carries the Board's own note on how it is constructed.
Also checked against federalreserve.gov.
Dow Jones & Company, from its survey of large US banks
A published consensus of the base rate large US banks charge their strongest commercial customers, revised when a controlling majority of the surveyed banks change theirs - which in practice means it steps when the Federal Reserve moves the federal funds target, and sits still in between. Equipment notes and revolving operating lines are commonly quoted as prime plus a spread.
Who it is for
Not a programme and not a government rate. It is a private publisher's survey figure. The Federal Reserve's own H.15 release carries a bank prime loan series that tracks the same thing and is free to read.
Also checked against federalreserve.gov.
USDA Farm Service Agency
Publishes the agency's own program interest rates for its direct loan products - farm ownership, operating, down payment, joint financing and emergency - which are set administratively rather than quoted by a loan officer, and are reset on a published schedule rather than moving day to day. The rate that applies to a given loan is the one in effect under the agency's own rules for that loan; the page at the source is where the current figures live.
Who it is for
The rates apply to applicants who qualify for the underlying FSA direct loan programme. Eligibility, terms and the current rates are all published by the agency and change.
Also checked against fsa.usda.gov.
Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Surveys agricultural banks each quarter on what they are actually charging for farm real estate loans, machinery and equipment paper and operating credit, and publishes the results alongside loan demand, repayment rates and collateral requirements. It is the closest thing to a public record of the all-in rate rural banks charge, as opposed to the benchmark underneath it.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Published free by the reserve bank; the survey covers its own district and the Databook aggregates national reporting.
Also checked against kansascityfed.org.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
A quarterly newsletter and banker survey covering farmland values and agricultural credit conditions in its district, including the average rates district banks report on real estate, operating and machinery loans and their read on credit availability. Read beside the Kansas City survey it shows how differently credit conditions can sit from one part of the country to another.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Published free by the reserve bank; the survey covers its own district rather than the South.
Also checked against chicagofed.org.
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
Publishes working analysis of agricultural credit and land markets from university economists, including how farm loan rates have moved against Treasury yields over long periods and how credit conditions have behaved through past rate cycles. Useful for the shape of a cycle rather than for today's quote.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Free to read; it is university extension analysis, not a lender, a rate publisher or a source of advice on a particular loan.
Also checked against ace.illinois.edu.
A nationwide network of borrower-owned lending institutions, regulated by the Farm Credit Administration
Lends to agriculture and rural America through cooperative associations owned by their own borrowers. It takes no deposits; it raises money by selling debt securities in the national capital markets and lends the proceeds. Timberland purchase and refinance, land improvement, and the operating and equipment needs of a farm or forestry business are core business for its associations.
Who it is for
Set by the Farm Credit Act of 1971 as amended and the Farm Credit Administration's regulations, which define the classes of borrowers a System institution may serve. Each association applies those rules in its own chartered territory; ask the association whose territory your county falls in.
Independent agency of the United States government
Regulates and examines the institutions of the Farm Credit System and Farmer Mac. Its stated mission is to ensure that those institutions are safe, sound and dependable sources of credit and related services for all creditworthy and eligible persons in agriculture and rural America. It was created by a 1933 executive order and derives its present authority from the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended.
Who it is for
Not a lender. A landowner deals with FCA only indirectly: it is the agency that charters, regulates and examines the association he borrows from, and it publishes the regulations that define who a System institution may lend to.
Also checked against fca.gov.
U.S. Small Business Administration
Guarantees loans made by participating lenders to small businesses, for working capital, equipment, and in some cases real estate. For a logging contractor it is a route to term debt on the business rather than on the timber: the crew, the trucks, the shop.
Who it is for
Small businesses meeting SBA's size standards and programme requirements, applying through a participating lender rather than to the agency directly. Eligibility rules, size standards and fees are published by SBA.
State workers' compensation agencies; overview published by the U.S. Department of Labor
Requires most employers to carry insurance that pays medical costs and wage replacement for employees injured on the job, in exchange for the employee giving up the right to sue the employer over the injury. Who must carry it, how many employees trigger the requirement, and how disputes are handled are all state law, and they differ across a state line.
Who it is for
Employers as defined by the law of the state where the work is performed. A logging contractor working across a state line is dealing with more than one system.
CME Group (Chicago Mercantile Exchange)
Lists the standardised, exchange-traded contracts the wood products trade uses to transfer lumber price risk: a physically delivered contract in finished framing lumber, and options on it. Contract size, deliverable grades, delivery points, months listed and settlement mechanics are all set by the exchange and are published on its own specification pages, which are the authority and which change.
Who it is for
Anyone trading it needs an account at a futures commission merchant registered with the CFTC. The contract is a single large, indivisible block of finished lumber and cannot be traded in fractions, which puts it out of scale for an individual timber tract.
Also checked against cmegroup.com.
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
The independent federal agency that regulates the United States derivatives markets, including the futures and options contracts the forest products trade hedges with. It registers intermediaries, oversees the exchanges and clearing houses, brings enforcement actions, and publishes plain-language customer advisories on the risks of trading and on commodity fraud.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Its customer education and its registration data are public, and its advisories are the first stop before opening any derivatives account.
Also checked against cftc.gov.
National Futures Association
A free public database of every firm and individual registered with the CFTC through the National Futures Association: registration status, membership, and any regulatory or disciplinary action on record. It is how anyone considering a futures account checks that the firm on the other end of the telephone is who it says it is.
Who it is for
Public search, no account needed. Checking a firm here before sending money is the single cheapest piece of diligence in this whole subject.
Also checked against nfa.futures.org.
Center for Forest Business, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia
The regional price reporting service for stumpage and delivered wood across the United States South, compiled from reported transactions and published on a quarterly cycle by region and product class. It is the reference most Southern long-term supply formulas and many appraisal reports point at when they say the price will be set by the index.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication. The reported values are the product being sold and are not reproduced here; subscribers, consulting foresters and appraisers are the usual route to them.
Also checked against warnell.uga.edu.
Fastmarkets
Publishes the price assessments and indices the wood products and pulp trades settle against: Random Lengths for North American lumber and panels, and the FOEX PIX indices for market pulp. Over-the-counter swaps and many long-term fibre supply contracts are written to settle against one of these published series rather than against a fixed price.
Who it is for
Commercial subscription products. The assessed values are proprietary and are named but never reproduced on this site; a contract that settles against one of them is only as good as the reader's access to it.
Also checked against fastmarkets.com.
Hardwood Market Report
The long-standing weekly price reporting service for North American hardwood lumber, by species, grade and region. It is the reference the hardwood trade quotes where the softwood lumber indices say nothing useful, which covers most of the hardwood belt including north Alabama.
Who it is for
A commercial subscription publication; its reported values are proprietary and are not reproduced here.
Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, on behalf of the Farm Credit System banks
Issues the consolidated debt securities that fund the whole Farm Credit System and publishes the terms they are sold at, across maturities running from very short to very long. That published cost of wholesale money is the reference a Farm Credit association's own loan pricing is built on, which is why a System lender can hold a long fixed rate on land paper that a deposit-funded bank often will not.
Who it is for
Not a programme and not a lender. It is the System's funding arm and its disclosure publisher; a borrower deals with a local association, not with this body. Current issuance terms are published on its site.
Also checked against fca.gov.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The benchmark administrator publishes SOFR every business morning for the prior business day, derived from actual overnight Treasury repurchase transactions. It is the successor benchmark to US dollar LIBOR, and it is what most new floating-rate commercial paper - equipment finance, mill capital, harvest operating lines - is written against, either as the overnight rate or as a forward-looking term rate built on it.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The rate and its full publication history are free to read at the source; a borrower encounters it as the first half of the quote on a floating-rate note.
Also checked against newyorkfed.org.
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Publishes the daily par yield curve, from which the constant maturity yields at each standard term - two, three, five, seven, ten, twenty and thirty years - are read. The five-year and ten-year points are the ordinary reference for fixed-rate land loans, long-term timber tract mortgages and mill capital, because a lender matching a long loan wants a benchmark of matching length.
Who it is for
Not a programme. The full curve is published free every business day; anyone quoting you a fixed land rate is reading from it, and you can read the same page he is.
Also checked against home.treasury.gov.
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
The Board's standing release of selected interest rates, published each business day and summarised weekly. It restates the constant maturity Treasury yields alongside the federal funds rate, commercial paper and bank prime loan rate, which makes it the single page to read when you want the benchmark behind a land loan and the benchmark behind an operating line side by side.
Who it is for
Not a programme. A free statistical release; every series on it carries the Board's own note on how it is constructed.
Also checked against federalreserve.gov.
Dow Jones & Company, from its survey of large US banks
A published consensus of the base rate large US banks charge their strongest commercial customers, revised when a controlling majority of the surveyed banks change theirs - which in practice means it steps when the Federal Reserve moves the federal funds target, and sits still in between. Equipment notes and revolving operating lines are commonly quoted as prime plus a spread.
Who it is for
Not a programme and not a government rate. It is a private publisher's survey figure. The Federal Reserve's own H.15 release carries a bank prime loan series that tracks the same thing and is free to read.
Also checked against federalreserve.gov.
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
Publishes working analysis of agricultural credit and land markets from university economists, including how farm loan rates have moved against Treasury yields over long periods and how credit conditions have behaved through past rate cycles. Useful for the shape of a cycle rather than for today's quote.
Who it is for
Not a programme. Free to read; it is university extension analysis, not a lender, a rate publisher or a source of advice on a particular loan.
Also checked against ace.illinois.edu.
Programme descriptions and links last reviewed August 14, 2026
This section explains how the money works. It does not lend it. When you are ready to talk to somebody, the lender and insurance desks that have listed themselves on AXE USA are searchable by product, state and deal size — and a sealed financing or coverage request goes to the desks that cover your work without putting your business on a public board.
Those desks are self-listed. AXE USA does not verify, endorse or recommend any of them.